Hubballi: With the Bharatiya Janata Party not announcing its candidate for the Ranebennur assembly seat, there is speculation that senior party leader and rural development and panchayat raj minister K.S. Eshwarappa's son Kantesh may be allotted the ticket to fight against former Speaker and Congress candidate K.B. Koliwad.
The party did not allot the ticket to disqualified Independent legislator R Shankar with Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa declaring in Tumakuru that he will give a ministerial berth to Shankar by making him a MLC.
Meanwhile, loyalists of Eshwarappa are exerting pressure on the party top brass and district leaders to allot the ticket to his son, Kantesh.
A few weeks ago, Eshwarappa had met a few influential seers who enjoyed good ties with BJP central leaders and had appealed to them to convince the party high command to allot the by-election ticket to his son.
Meanwhile, Haveri district BJP president Shivaraj Sajjan is also lobbying hard to get the ticket for the constituency and is pressurizing top leaders, said sources adding that he will however abide by the decision of the party high command in this regard.
Shankar had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging his disqualification by former Speaker Ramesh Kumar contending that the process of merger of his party, KPJP with the Congress was not complete.
Though the apex court has permitted him to contest the elections, sources said that he is not confident of getting re-elected from Ranebennur as he had stayed away from the constituency for the last 3-4 months when people were reeling under the impact of heavy rains and floods.
Moreover, he may find the going tough against former Speaker Koliwad who is the Congress candidate for Ranebennur.
